Coach Hugh Freeze sat down with the media to move on from Missouri to the upcoming game at Kentucky.
Opening statement…
“As I said Saturday after the game, and unfortunately, it’s kind of a repeated topic it feels like, is our kids are playing really hard. I’m pleased to see that and I’m proud of them for that. They played well for the majority of the game Saturday, but we have to figure out how to finish. When you’re playing a top 20 team, which I think Missouri is, they’re solid, very solid, you can’t have lapses or bad calls or bad execution at critical moments. We played two top 20 teams in the last three weeks, at least they were ranked that at the time, and had the lead in the fourth quarter and were not able to finish. It’s incredibly frustrating, for sure. I’ve never had a season, I guess this is my 32nd season counting high school, I’ve only had one regular season losing record and it seems like every winnable game has not gone our way. Not a single one. Obviously, I hate the result for the players, our incredible fans, the administration and you guys who cover us. I hate it. It makes you sick, physically ill, when you don’t get across the finish line. It makes you act crazy and say crazy things to those you love sometimes. It’s just frustrating. The great thing about it is it teaches you so much about who you are in the valley. It teaches you perspective of really keeping your eyes on the right things in the challenging moments, which for me is the chance I have to impact this building by what they see and how I handle the challenging times. I haven’t had a ton of practice at that throughout the years, so I’m having to learn about myself and seek great council and obviously stay grounded in my faith and what I know to be true and pure and good, and hopefully keep this building continuing to work like they are and playing as hard as they do. We have a young team, and they’re learning and they’re growing, but I do think we still play not to lose instead of ‘man, let’s play to win.’ Truthfully, we probably are coaching that way some, too. I feel the pressure of those calls and not being free to do what I’ve done for years, and ‘Oh man, we could screw this up’ or ‘We could not execute this correctly’. Those are all feelings that are real and legitimate and probably have an effect on us not finishing games really well.
“When you watch that game, you look at three different drives, to me. We had a really good drive to end the third quarter and, truthfully, it’s a touchdown and the game’s over. We have to make that play. It hits him right in the hands. It’s a perfect throw, and I’m not beating up Robert (Lewis). He’s one of our greatest kids on our team. Nobody hurt (like him). He sent a text out to us on the bus, to the team, that would break your heart, just like, ‘That’s on me’. Obviously, there’s a lot of other plays, but you make that play or you make that field goal, or you make a different call as a coach at a different time, but the game could have easily been over. Defensively, I thought we played probably our most complete game. Outside of the 78-yard completion where we had rat coverage called. We’re just young, but we’re right there. It’s a great call by DJ (Durkin) and them, but yet the made a play. They had a good quarterback, good receiver, and he made a play. It gave them an explosive run and their first score to get back in it. You have to give Brady (Cook) credit for coming back and extending plays with his legs, which really hurt us. That drive right before the (end of the) third on offense, and then that drive after we stopped them, after our punt team pinned them on the one or whatever, we get it back and it’s a short field. That’s our chance to put the game away and we have a negative run on first down. We just didn’t execute it. You give it to your best guy on a zone play. Give them credit because their defensive front is good, but we didn’t execute it very well either. We missed Rivaldo (Fairweather) on a wide open (route). (Payton Thorne) had a little pressure on him. We didn’t protect extremely well on that play, but boy if we can make that throw that’s a game changer. I think the throw was a little high for Sam (Jackson) on a third-down play, which I think he was going to run for a first (down) there, and we just don’t make any of them. Obviously, they have an 18-play drive to win the game, and we were absolutely gassed. DBs, the young ones who had played pretty well at keeping everything in front of them most of the game, they got tired. Their technique went from, watching it yesterday with the defensive staff, the same call that was executed three times perfectly in the first half, and my alignment that’s supposed to be just outside tip or just inside tip all of the sudden in this 18-play drive with the game on the line, everything changed in the way we went about technique and playing it. And we did get gassed up front, too. We couldn’t get any pressure. That’s really the game in a nutshell in my eyes.
“Gosh, it’s frustrating. I’ve said it before, and I remain confident in the staff and in our players. We’ll just continue to trust the process of what we’re becoming through the challenging times. Hopefully the results will start to show sooner (rather) than later. I know they’re coming. No one wants to see the Auburn Family and our players get to enjoy that more than myself.”
On how he has handled play calling and everything else it takes to be a head coach…
“It’s a challenge. This morning, we’re trying to get the bases of the Kentucky plan in and I have a stream of players that I want to see and spend time with. So that’s been in-and-out, and I’ve been in-and-out, but I’m pretty clear with the guys what I think we can do. I think we’re all in agreement and alignment on that. The play calling part has been, obviously (Derrick) Nix does some of it, Kent (Austin) does some of it, but I’ve, for sure, had my share of it. It’s four hours of stress. It’s four hours of feeling like you have to have the perfect call for us right now. We don’t have a lot of erasers. We just don’t have a lot of the margin for error. It seems so small, and maybe that’s the feeling that has you feeling like we have to get this. I wanted to, when we got that ball (with the short field), to take a shot. Five years ago, I would have done that and not worried, but then you’re second and 10 and you’re like ‘We didn’t get it to 27 and we should have’. Then we give it to 27 and we don’t execute it exactly right and their end made a great play and it’s second and 12. It’s a challenge to recruit, to recruit your current roster, to help on the offensive game plan. Thank God I have guys that I trust on the defensive side because if I had to do anything more over there, there definitely wouldn’t be enough time in the day. This profession has gotten to where you feel like you’re lifting weights and there’s an added 45 (pound) dumbbell every other day possibly with something else, whether it’s the transfer world or an academic or discipline issue or a family issue that a kid is having. When you’re a relational staff like we are, they feel the comfort level to ‘Man, let’s go see Coach Freeze’. It’s a lot, but I enjoy being a part of trying to figure out how to get this offense, along with Coach Nix, Coach Austin, Coach Davis, Coach Thornton, Coach Aigamaua and all of the guys that are in there, our analyst crew, to be efficient and to find a way to put games away. I really felt like we had one of our better drives of the year at the end of the third quarter. We just have to finish that drive, and the game probably is over.”
On the shift in the offensive line and if they will continue to run that group out there…
“We’ll continue to look at that this week. The movement stuff that has started to happen against us because we were really good at getting into correct runs against fronts for several games, so everybody is trying to pattern what others have done, and Percy (Lewis) struggled with it in all reality. First play of the game, we should have a completion for, I don’t know, (KeAndre Lambert-Smith) would have caught it, tight turned, and I don’t know 10 yards, let’s say, and the movement messed up Percy and he just totally kind of didn’t block anyone and the guy sacked us. I love Percy and we’re going to continue to work with him. The movement is just giving him some problems. We felt like we would be a little more sound with the other crew in there if that was going to be their gameplan.”
On Missouri taking away the RPO in the second half…
“Their boxes were for against the run, so you hand it off. I don’t know what our average rush was, I can’t remember, but it was pretty solid, so that is the answer. I had a feeling they were going to window those safeties pretty deep and place an outside tip coverage on our single guys at the boundary. But again, they can’t do that and still have you outnumbered in the box. I thought we were pretty effective at running it most of the day. They had some good plug deals with their baggers that caused us problems in the second half some, but they definitely were not going to let us sit there and throw RPOs for sure, so you have got to do a run football.”
On why Jarquez Hunter’s numbers went down in the second half vs. Missouri…
“They’re (Missouri’s defense) pretty dang good. That’s a very mature defensive front, and I think they’re really, really solid. Outside the one game, the A&M game, their stats are top three or four in like everything, so a good defense that not many people have just struggled. Could we have blocked things a little differently and better? Sure, but they’re teaching their guys to get all the blocks also, but I thought he ran effective enough for us to be balanced and obviously have a chance to win the game.”
On playing to win and building confidence in coaching…
“It’s how you want it to be, and you want to feel that way all the time, but you want to have the confidence and certainly want to do what’s right for your current team to give them the best chance to win. It’s just like what I was saying a while ago on the very last possession that we had. I really wanted on the first play to take a shot and go for the kill. I really did, and I really think it was a good play and a good call. You also just had defense that stoned them on three and out inside the 5-yard line and we haven’t always taken care of the ball or protected when I feel free and loose all of the time. All of those things are in your mind, so I obviously reverted to our best player in 27 [Jarquez Hunter] and then ended up having to punt and putting in our defense again, which I didn’t mind doing at that point because they were playing so well. Brady Cooke did a great job of extending plays. The penalty hurt us also. Missed a line by a freshman corner on the third and 10 really hurt in that last drive. Yeah, it’s just I don’t know, I didn’t feel and that could be all of my emotions and feelings, too, that we’re not playing to win from the thoughts I have in my mind. And it may not even be in our kid’s minds, who knows, I’ll talk to them today at the team meeting about that and get some honest feedback. There’s no question that you feel the pressure of those moments of ‘do I just be free and loose like most of my life and coaching has been or man, we’re so desperate that our kids deserve to win one of these games, don’t do anything that’s going to put them in jeopardy of doing that.’ “
On running new plays the last two games and if they were successful…
“Yes and no. Some of those were explosive runs, so you know some of those are good things. And then there were probably a couple that we didn’t have a complete understanding of if they gave you this certain look. So, I think the answer is yes and no. It’s not like in our system that the three-back stuff that the line doesn’t have any clue that it is any different. So, it’s not like they should screw that up. I don’t think that stuff is an issue at all. It’s probably that having a new formation or new motion or something like that is maybe a little much. But I think all of the new stuff that we kind of put in seemed to be pretty successful.”
On an update in the kicking game…
“Should we have another opportunity within the 35-yard range, we are going to give Alex (McPherson) that shot. He told me he felt like he could do that, so we’re close to thinking on that. We’ll see how the week goes. Again, we are excited about Towns (McGough) and his future and his talent, but we need to make those. Those are critical moments that keep our momentum up and us feeling good and us feeling like we are finding ways to win the game. But he (Alex) did feel like he could have participated if we had that situation again Saturday.”
On Kentucky’s defense…
“First, Coach (Mark) Stoops, I think, is one of the best in the business. I think he gets more out of his teams year in and year out than most coaches do. So, I give him a lot of credit and like him as an individual and does a great job coaching. But this defensive front, it starts there. They’re the real deal, and No. 0 (Deone Walker) is probably a top 15 pick in the draft. No. 8 (Octavious Oxendine) is pretty dang solid too. The linebackers are really, really talented. They can run in the secondary, so it’s one of the better defenses we’ve seen.”
On the improvements of the freshmen defensive players…
“They’re growing, man. They are getting better too. It’s uncomfortable, but they’re definitely growing and getting better. I see it in practice and in one-on-ones. You know, they’re playing against really good players. They had some good receivers. I thought for most of the game they did some things that last drive that, man, you go back and see it in the first half, and they did it perfectly. But you get tired and the pressure’s on, and things are moving fast at that moment. And my alignment is just that much off, and it makes a difference in the leverage. So, you’re still see some of those things, but there’s no question if they’re improving, for sure.”
On offensive struggles starting games…
“That one there starts with what really happened. We get a penalty on special teams which we’ve had too many of those. Offensively, like we are one of the best in the nation in lack of penalties. In special teams, we are not good and it started us on the five-yard line and we totally MA’ed (missed assignment) on the first play of the game and take a sack. You’re not going to be aggressive and recover from that on the first drive of the game. I don’t care what game I’m coaching in, we are probably not fixing to do something really stupid right there. Other than trying to get us a little field position and punt the football, which we did, and our defense held them I think, or they missed a field goal or something after that. I can’t remember. But it wasn’t a touchdown, I do know that. I can’t go back and remember all the other first drives, but that one was a tough one for me. You get a penalty that pushes you back inside the five and get sacked on the very first play on a quick game. Which the ball is coming out like that and should be coming out like that. We literally didn’t have time to throw it, which means we totally MA’ed that so that’s what totally killed the first drive.”
On the young wide receivers still getting big plays…
“We need those young guys to keep growing up. Dre (KeAndre Lambert-Smith) is the most mature of that group, the most complete. We need to get him more touches too. No. 11, Malcolm (Simmons) is doing some great things with the things we are asking him to do. Cam (Coleman) is obviously a deep threat, and he is proving that he is that. We’ve got to keep him improving the intermediate part of his game. He really should have had an opportunity for two other catches and he did not execute the route properly. The frustrating things, like when I was talking earlier, is just that these kids are very talented and they are the future and foundation of our program and you see them do it in practice. And then bullets get revealed and things change a little bit, and that coverage is a little different than I experienced against the service team in practice and I cut this route two yards short. Those things continue to happen some, but we’re getting better. Perry (Thompson) has had a couple of really good weeks, so has Bryce (Cain). Malcolm is getting better at understanding things and obviously Cam has getting his reps, but we just have to get more consistent in all of the techniques in running those routes.”
On selling out Jordan-Hare Stadium the rest of the season…
“I can’t say enough about the Auburn people. The ones that made the trip to Missouri will make the trip to Kentucky and then to sell out our last home games. It just speaks to the love and passion that they have for this place, the players, the support of the staff even in the difficult times. I know this profession is one where everyone says, ‘win now, win now, win now.’ I’m not on social media, but I’m sure that the narrative is always, ‘get rid of the guys. Get rid of the guys and let’s change. Let’s change.’ And with the Auburn people, I know that in the past the Auburn fans and Auburn people have this knock that goes against them that they’re not supportive. That has been far from the case for me and my experience. They are incredibly supportive and pulling for the next game and the next success and the next opportunity and the next recruiting class and the vision we’ve cast. From Dr. Roberts and John Cohen and down to me, being on the same page and in alignment and from our On To Victory folks. Everything that’s going on with this new college game. I think what I’m saying is that I couldn’t be more thankful for the support of the Auburn Family. They continue to prove it over and over again.”
On playing freely and still taking shots…
“That’s a great question. Let me say that I may have described it imperfectly sort of like I do a lot of things sometimes. I don’t mind the pressure. I don’t mind any of that. I just want to do the right thing for the kids at the right moment. I think it comes down to that we’ve got to gain some confidence in each other and for those moments that are winning moments. That will end up giving the win on the scoreboard and we’ve got to find a way, whether it’s the DBs (defensive backs) or whether it’s a freshman pass rusher that’s maybe really young. We talked about it yesterday. There’s some guys that haven’t played a lot yet. Maybe we need carry them and just on third down, tell a T.J. Lindsey or a DJ Reed to go sack a quarterback. They have fresh legs and are talented kids. Now you have to manage the 74-man travel roster and all of that. Me, having confidence that Payton (Thorne) is going to take care of the ball and our receivers are going to run the exact right route and all that. We’re at a point in the year where we as coaches should have that fixed. I’ve got to get that and put that in my rearview mirror, too, as if I’m calling a play. Don’t think that as a negative.”
On attacking the ground game vs. Kentucky’s defense…
“I know Coach Stoops. He will not be happy with their performance (last week). They will be working on fitting the run this week like they have every other game. That is a total outlier, which happens in college football. You’re coaching kids still. That hasn’t been the case if you go look at the rushing stats against them with all the other teams, Georgia included. All of them. They are not that. I don’t make too much of that game. I hope they play like that. But it is probably doubtful. I think with Lexington at night and a home game for them, we’ll probably get their best.”
